Men's Polo Falls in Conference Semifinals

After defeating Santa Monica 17-1 in the Western State Conference quarterfinals, the No. 4-seeded Pirates dropped their semifinal match-up with No. 1 Los Angeles Valley 15-10 Friday in the tournament being held at Citrus College.

Ventura 17, Santa Monica 1
The Pirates got off to a bit of a slow start against the No. 5-seeded Corsairs before exploding in the second quarter and never looking back.  Head coach Tim Settem called it the "best defensive performance of the year," as VC cruised to the conference semifinals 17-1.  Tervor Edwards had five goals while Daniel Amorim scored four with 13 steals on defense.  Alec Kruse and Alejandro Astudillo each scored twice and Renan Mendes, Mitchell Ongstad, Keaton Hess and Michael Barbosa all found the back of the net.  J'son Ruiz had 10 saves in goal.

Ventura 10, Los Angeles Valley 15
Ventura had another slow start against the tournament's top-seed, falling behind by too much to come back.  VC trailed 15-4 at the end of three quarters before outscoing the Monarchs 6-0 in the final period to set the final score.  Amorim had five goals and Dominic Tassano scored twice.  Kruse, Astudillo and Ongstad all scored one goal each.

The Pirates will play in the third-place match at 11:30 am on Saturday Nov. 8 at Citrus College in Glendora.